You Say "Pidato"!

I am ashamed to say that one of the many things I didn't do at university was to get involved in debating and public speaking. I just didn't believe at the time that I needed to improve my ability to communicate in the spoken form. After all, I knew my own language, didn't I?!

Also, I have always been more comfortable with the written form than the spoken word - even though all my Malaysian colleagues love to hear my wonderful British accent whenever I open my mouth! Writing has for me been a pleasure almost as fulfilling as eating a Magnum ice-cream. I believe, probably misguidedly, that if I am destined for greatness on this Earth, it will be through the written word.

But enough shameless self-aggrandisement!

What I would like to write about today is the spoken word. In particular, the practice of debating and public speaking, with which I have become intimately involved since I first started working in Malaysia.

Over here, debating, and public speaking (Pidato in Malay), are essential elements of the school and university extra-curricular schedule for most students. There are many government-sponsored competitions at school and university level, and the best speakers often go on to participate in major national and international competitions.

This means that if you teach in an institution of learning here in Malaysia, and in particular if you are a native speaker of English, you will be asked at some point to get involved.

Not that I'm complaining. I have had a great time since I started to judge debating contests, or public speaking competitions. It's a lot of fun, although you do have to have your eyes and ears wide open. You really gain an appreciation of the strengths, and more often the shortcomings, of students who are effectively trying to communicate in a second language.

Back home, debating and public speaking are, I would say, thought of as somewhat snobby activities for the Oxbridge students. When I was at university, it seemed that only the law students got involved in these activities, or those who fancied themselves as future politicians. Public speaking and debating seemed to me then to be a luxury, rather than a necessity, in my own education.

But here in Malaysia, we must remember that this is a developing country. The ability to communicate effectively, whether in Malay or in English, are not luxuries. They are necessities. There are plenty of complaints about the lack of communicative ability of Malaysia's university graduates, many of whom have found it hard to get graduate level jobs because of a lack of spoken communicative ability. It has become a national, social and political problem in this country.

So that's why I, in my humble station as the token native speaker, am happy to offer my services to those who need judges or coaches to help students to improve their speaking ability. To this end, I have become fairly active both in the university and outside it. For instance, I am a member of the Toastmasters Club at my university (currently its President!), as well as having judged countless debates and public speaking tournaments all over Malaysia in the five years I have worked in my current university. And I am also the advisor for our own debate club.

Toastmasters is an organisation that all people who need to communicate should join, to help them to gain confidence, leadership skills and speaking competence. Debating is a skill that requires students to use their general knowledge to argue and counter argue on important topics. It tests the students' knowledge, language skills and confidence, and trains them to develop a nimble intellect. The same goes for public speaking, where you often have to talk on a topic not of your choosing - a very marketable skill in the workplace.

Today, I was asked to be a judge at the Pidato Kemerdekaan (Independence Public Speaking) contest at a neighbouring university. I was greatly impressed with the quality of the speakers in the English section (my Malay isn't good enough to judge the Malay section sadly!).

But I wonder, how many students there are out there in this country who cannot for some reason find the courage to stand up and improve their speaking ability? For every excellent Pidato speaker, there must be a hundred who prefer to suffer in silence.

This is the season where Malaysia remembers its struggle for Independence, in 1957. That struggle was not won primarily through warfare, unlike Indonesia. Malaysia's independence was won because of the communicative and argumentative skills of Malaysia's founding fathers, particularly Tunku Abdul Rahman, who gently worked on the British administration, using oratory and logic, until he eventually persuaded them to let go.

And there are many other examples of how freedom has been won, advocated, and reinforced by the spoken words uttered by brilliant speakers. Martin Luther King. John F Kennedy. Winston Churchill. Abraham Lincoln. Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohammad. Mohandas K Gandhi. Nelson Mandela. The list could go on...

So as an English language professor in a country like Malaysia, I feel somewhat proud to think that my little bit of effort might one day produce a future prime minister, or at least someone who has the confidence to speak up and be counted.

Our communicative abilities are founded in confidence. Confidence is like a little bird trapped in a cage inside us, and the bars of the cage are made of fear, self-doubt, the mockery of others, and excuses. All we have to do is to open the door of the cage, and let the bird go free!